Cruising progress 2015 (Click to enlarge)
31st July 2015
From San Antoni we had a good sail further up the coast to Portinatx, which is a small holiday village at the head of a lovely cala with crystal clear, bright tourquiose water. We threaded our way through the numerous boats and managed to find a space to anchor. Although there’s very little to see in the village, we enjoyed a week here, with several lunches ashore and meeting people from other British boats. Finally, we have water hot enough for me to swim in (I like it at bath temperature!) and Mike can now dive down to clean the prop etc without the need of a wet suit.
Our next stop was at Clot d’es Llamp, a bay surrounded by cliffs with very strange rock formations. Again the water was crystal clear but very deep so only three or four boats could get in. From there we motored round to Santa Eulalia, which is in a big open bay. We wouldn’t normally have chosen to stay here because the swell was onshore and it made for an extremely rolly night, however we wanted to find a laundrette so we put up with it. This is an attractive town/holiday resort and we had a very good Thai lunch whilst we waited for our washing. After lunch we picked up the washing and returned to the boat and festooned the rigging with drying clothes. We looked like a refugee boat!
We then headed back up the coast and spent a couple of nights in Cala San Vincente, before returning to Portinatx, which was to be the jumping off point for Mallorca. This time we were anchored much closer to the beach and arrived just in time for the final two nights of the local fiesta. A bandstand had been erected on the beach with massive speakers in preparation for “Disco on Beach Night”, which was to be garage music. It started about 11:00pm and carried on until 06:00am, but thankfully wasn’t too loud and we managed to sleep through most of it.
The next day there was the procession of the Virgin from the chapel down to the water, where she was loaded on to the local water bus and went off for a tour around the bay, leading a motley fleet of power boats, inflatables and a couple of yachts all festooned with bunting and sounding their foghorns as they went. She was then returned to dry land and deposited on a wall to preside over a display of folk dancing, before being returned to the chapel. Back on the beach later in the evening there was music from a British band, followed by a Spanish one. Much more enjoyable than the previous evening with the added bonus that it finished about 02:00am!
Early the next morning we left for Mallorca and managed a good sail for the first couple of hours, but then had to motor sail for the remaining six until we arrived in Magaluf in the late afternoon. From there we had another really good sail to Colonia de Sant Jordi, where we anchored in beautiful green water. We spent a couple of nights here before visiting the local marina for fuel and water. This was the first time we’d topped up since leaving Torrevieja last month. Although there are plenty of marinas on all the islands, the nightly charge is exorbitant, so we only go in for fuel and water.
After a couple of stops and an excellent sail, we arrived in Puerto de Pollença, which is a beautifully sheltered anchorage. We have met up with Bill & Rosemary from Curlew with whom we over wintered in Aguadulce and have run into several times since leaving in May. So far we’ve taken the dinghy ashore only once as it’s about a two mile round trip (quite a long way in a little rubber boat!) and wandered around the local street market before joining Bill and Rosemary for a very enjoyable lunch.
